Apparatus for shaping bags



Nov. 14, 1967 E. K. THOMSON 3,352,231

APPARATUS FOR SHAPING BAGS Filed NOV. 12, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l 'INVENTOR.

, Ely K.Thor nson L. David Tropnell ATTORNEY 1967 E. K. THOMSON APPARATUS FOR SHAPING BAGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 12, 1964 INVENTOR. Ely K.Thomson L. David Trophell ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofi ice 3,352,231 APPARATUS FOR SHAPING BAGS Ely K. Thomson, Houston, Tex., assignor to Continental Carbon Company, Houston, Tex., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 12, 1964, Ser. No. 410,382 3 Claims. (Cl. 100-90) This invention relates to apparatus for shaping materials in bags and particularly materials which are particulate, i.e. pelletized, granular, pulverulent, etc.

At the present time, the apparatus most generally used for the aforementioned purposes comprises a pair of opposed series of rollers, each series of which is encompassed by an endless belt; also provided are side bars, or slides to restrict the sides of the bags which are of cloth or the like.

Such apparatus of the prior art is characterized by numerous defects, among them being damage to the shaped bags, excessive costs of the shaping equipment, dimentional nonconformity of the finished (or completely packed) bags, and damage to the materials within the bags in that it is crushed in the shaping process to such an extent as to create fines which are undesirable in the finished product.

In general, the requirements for shaping bags are: (1) To increase the density of the product (or contents) in order to further reduce the cubic content and obtain a package that will retain its shape after leaving the shaping apparatus.

(2) To obtain a multiplicity of bags of substantially identical dimensions for better unitizing and shipping considerations.

(3) To shape the bag so that it forms a package with all corners square and uniform and all opposed sides of the package parallel and flat.

(4) To achieve the foregoing requirements without changing or damaging the material in the bag.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the class described which will attain the above-listed objectives, and one which is, at the same time relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture, operate and maintain.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends this invention then comprises the features hereinafter fully described and shown in the annexed drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary isometric view partly in section, illustrating a form of apparatus which embodies the teachings of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view, taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a view on an enlarged scale and illustrating some of the details of the apparatus.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the top of a suitably supported container in which the bags are to be shaped, the same being provided with side-walls 2 which ultimately determine the width and length of the shaped bags.

The bottom of the bag-shaping container is open and adapted to receive a removable combination platformram 4 which is rectangular in plan and provided on its peripheral edges with a flexible seal 5 for contacting the inner faces of the sidewalls 2 when in inserted position. A supporting beam 7 underlies the aforementioned elements and supports a cylinder, piston, and piston rod assembly designated at 8 and 10, the upper end of the piston rod 8 supporting in turn, the combination platformram 4.

The top 1 of the bag-shaping container is imperforate except for a centrally disposed air aperture which communicates through a conduit 14 with a reversible air pump 16 which, when operated in one direction, expels air from that portion of the bag-shaping container which is above the platform of the platform-ram 4 with its peripheral seal 5.

Spaced slightly below the top 1 of the bag-shaping container, and in parallelism therewith, is a rigidly mounted perforated plate 18.

When the combination platform-ram 4 is in lowered position, bags to be shaped are fed thereonto by means of a conveyor 20; and the finished, or shaped, bags are removed from the combination platform-ram and carried away on a conveyor 22.

As shown, the bag-shaping container is provided with a fixedly attached vibrator 24. Alternatively the vibrator may be fixedly attached to the combination platformram 4.

The operation of the apparatus commences with the piston rod 8 retracted (by the cylinder-and-piston assembly 10) and the combination platform-ram 4 completely removed from the bag-shaping container and occupying a position which permits the ready placement thereon of a filled bag.

With the filled bag on the lowered combination platform-ram 4, the cylinder-piston assembly 10, air pump 16 and vibrator 24 are actuated. The cylinder-piston assembly 10, acting through the piston rod 8, will raise the combination platform-ram 4 and the bag supported thereon into the bag-shaping container to a predetermined position with respect to the rigidly mounted perforated plate 18 so as to provide therebetween a space which is somewhat wider than the desired thickness of the shaped bag.

With the bag within the bag-shaping container, and the platform of the platform-ram 4 (with its peripheral seal 5) in the immediately aforementioned position, the air pump 16 will, when operated in the direction earlier mentioned, create a partial vacuum within the bag-shaping container, thus expelling air from the bag-shaping oontainer through the perforations in the perforated plate 18.

With a partial vacuum within the main chamber of the bag-shaping container, ambient air pressure will exert a force on the bottom of the combination platform-ram 4 to thereby compress the bag against the rigidly mounted perforated plate 18.

From the foregoing, it will be perceived that the actual compression of the bag between the rigidly mounted perforated partition 18 and the platform of the platform-ram 4 (with its peripheral seal 5) is performed by ambient air pressure against the bottom of the latter; and not by upward movement imparted to the piston rod 8 by the cylinder-piston assembly 10. This relatively gentle pressure eliminates the excessive crushing of the contents of the bag earlier referred to, yet results in the shaping of the bag to the desired extent.

The vibrator 24 which is fixedly attached to the container will agitate the contents of the bag, thus causing the rearrangement of the contents to seek their smallest cube by eliminating the space between them which was formerly occupied by air.

After a predetermined time, which is dependent upon the material being shaped and the amount of shaping required thereby, the cylinder-piston assembly 10 will be actuated in the opposite (or downward) direction to lower the combination platform-ram 4 to its initial position. Simultaneously compressed air will be injected into the bag-shaping container by reversing the flow of air through the air pump 16 and conduit 14 to expell the shaped bag and the combination platform-ram 4 upon which it rests.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the cylinder-piston assembly 10, air pump 16 and vibrator 24 are entirely conventional, as well as the means for operating the same.

Patented Nov. 14, 1967 Various modifications in the apparatus may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for shaping bags containing divided solid materials, said apparatus comprising, in combination,

a substantially horizontally disposed container having a closed upper end and an open bottom;

a substantially vertically movable imperforate pressure member adapted for insertion into, and removal from, the open bottom of said container;

the periphery of said imperforate pressure member conforming closely in size and shape to the horizontal cross-sectional area of said container;

a substantially horizontally extending perforated partition fixedly disposed within said container adjacent to but spaced from the upper end of said container;

means for moving bags to be shaped onto and from said imperforate pressure member;

means for moving said imperforate pressure member into and out of the open end of said container;

said means being adapted to discontinue the inward movement of said imperforate pressure member short of the point where it could undesirably crush the bag between it and the under surface of said fixed perforated partition;

the closed upper end of said container having an aperture therein, and

a fiuid pump communicating with said aperture and, accordingly, the perforations in said fixed perforated partition;

said fluid pump being adapted to produce within said container a partial vacuum of sufficient magnitude to permit ambient air pressure to move said imperforate pressure member toward said fixed perforated partition to an extent which is adequate to shape the bag within the container but inadequate to undesirably crush the same. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 together with a vibrator for imparting vibrations to the bag within the container. 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the means for moving bags to be shapedonto and from said imperforate pressure member comprises a conveyor positioned on opposed sides of said imperforate pressure member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,003,114 9/1911 Kirchhoff 53-24 1,525,035 2/1925 Huth 259-91 1,781,714 11/1930 Anderson. 1,947,029 2/1934 Allison et a1 259-1 2,109,559 3/1938 Wickert 100-125 X 2,481,611 9/1949 Moore. 2,570,757 10/1951 Bowman et al 214-152 2,607,435 8/1952 Dohse 100-90 2,909,826 10/1959 McElroy 25972 X 2,959,900 11/1960 Wollett l0090 X 3,081,956 3/1963 Carriere 241-283 3,096,081 7/1963 Helm et al. 3,146,997 9/1964 McKinney 259-75 3,218,778 11/1965 Moreland 100-90 X LOUIS O. MAASSEL, Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR SHAPING BAGS CONTAINING DIVIDED SOLID MATERIALS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING, IN COMBNATION, A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED CONTAINER HAVING A CLOSED UPPER END AND AN OPEN BOTTOM; A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY MOVABLE IMPERFORATE PRESSURE MEMBER ADAPTED FOR INSERTION INTO, AND REMOVAL FROM, THE OPEN BOTTOM OF SAID CONTAINER; THE PERIPHERY OF SAID IMPERFORATE PRESSURE MEMBER CONFORMING CLOSELY IN SIZE AND SHAPE TO THE HORIZONTAL CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF SAID CONTAINER; A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING PERFORATED PARTITION FIXEDLY DISPOSED WITHIN SAID CONTAINER ADJACENT TO BUT SPACED FROM THE UPPER END OF SAID CONTAINER; MEANS FOR MOVING BAGS TO BE SHAPED ONTO AND FROM SAID IMPERFORATE PRESSURE MEMBER; MEANS FOR MOVING SAID IMPERFORATE PRESSURE MEMBER INTO AND OUT OF THE OPEN END OF SAID CONTAINER; SAID MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO DISCONTINUE THE INWARD MOVEMENT OF SAID IMPERFORATE PRESSURE MEMBER SHORT OF THE POINT WHERE IT COULD UNDESIRABLY CRUSH THE BAG BETWEEN IT AND THE UNDER SURFACE OF SAID FIXED PERFORATED PARTITION; THE CLOSED UPPER END OF SAID CONTAINER HAVING AN APERTURE THEREIN, AND A FLUID PUMP COMMUNICATING WITH SAID APERTURE AND, ACCORDINGLY, THE PERFORATIONS IN SAID FIXED PERFORATED PARTITION; SAID FLUID PUMP BEING ADAPTED TO PRODUCE WITHIN SAID CONTAINER A PARTIAL VACUUM OF SUFFICIENT MAGNITUDE TO PERMIT AMBIENT AIR PRESSURE TO MOVE SAID IMPERFORATE PRESSURE MEMBER TOWARD SAID FIXED PERFORATED PARTITION TO AN EXTENT WHICH IS ADEQUATE TO SHAPE THE BAG WITHIN THE CONTAINER BUT INADEQUATE TO UNDESIRABLY CRUSH THE SAME. 